Thinking of You Card - Hero Arts

I challenged myself today to use a stamp that I have had for quite a while and have never used.  This peacock stamp from Hero Arts was just what I needed for the challenge at Less Is More Challenge 
where the theme is Exotic.  I figure a peacock is pretty exotic, yes?
What could be more exotic than an animal with all the iridescent hues of blues and greens of the peacock tail?  

Now, this stamp is one of those negative stamps, where the design is actually etched out of the background, so I couldn't actually color in the tail feathers.

I chose to ink the stamp in TH distress inks in shades of blue, for the Sunday Stamps shades of blue challenge.  I used blue crystals on the tail feathers, and the Spectrum Noir clear glitter pen on the white spaces of the tail. 

Close-up of sparkle in the tail

The thinking of you verse is from the W Plus 9 fresh cut florals set.  I inked it with blue distress ink, then embossed it with clear embossing powder.

Thanks so much for visiting today.  Have a fabulous Friday!

Blessings,

lynda
 
 

Simon Says Stamp Make It Girlie Challenge Card

Today's card is for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.  The theme for this week's challenge is Make it Girlie.  I thought pinks and oranges and flowers were pretty girlie, so I'm entering this card.

The stamps used for this card are from the W Plus 9 set Beautiful Bouquets: Dahlias.  These pretty flowers were fun to paint.  I used an inexpensive, low-quality set of pan watercolor paints, just to see how they would perform.  I hadn't used them in quite a while, and actually have kept them to share with my grandies.

Overall, I was not really happy with them.  They were quite chalky and brittle, and it was difficult to get enough pigment on my brushes.  I did this little experiment, because I want to purchase a better set of pan watercolors, but I needed to justify spending more money on them when I already had my set that I share with my granddaughters when they come over.  I did order a set of the Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors after this trial.  I know I will get lots of use from them.  The card isn't too bad, but it was a lot more work than if I had paints that cooperated with me.

For the layering piece under the panel, I used plain white card stock, and taped a stripe template over it.  I used Tim Holtz distress inks and Clarity stencil brushes to brush on my stripes.  I did the orange first, then moved the stencil over slightly and added pink, then moved it over more and added more pink.  It looks as though I used three colors, but I only used two.  I will definitely be using this technique again.

Thanks for stopping by today.  

Blessings,
lynda